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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26532073">don't rewind (or induce amnesia)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/sevenbraincells/pseuds/sevenbraincells'>sevenbraincells</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>fluttering heart [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Owl House (Cartoon)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Blushing Amity Blight, F/F, First Meetings, Gay Disaster Amity Blight, Happy Ending, Meet-Cute, POV Amity Blight, Soulmate AU, Soulmates, amity doesn't know she's a lesbian, amity? more like gaymity am i right, but don't worry, i hope you don't hate this, im so sorry, it's not too much angst??, sort of???, there's angst now</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 05:48:51</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>13,642</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26532073</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/sevenbraincells/pseuds/sevenbraincells</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s not that it was abnormal, per se, for people not to find their soulmates before their fifteenth birthday, but it was generally frowned upon. Amity Blight never understood why that was such a thing. </p><p>Besides, she was doing just fine without a soulmate. Perfect, even, as everything in her life was - and should - be. </p><p>But there's a certain new girl at school who just might change things.</p><p>(formerly titled 'perfectly ordinary')</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Amity Blight/Luz Noceda</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>fluttering heart [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1983847</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>72</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>573</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. our lives are stories, waiting to be told</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It’s not that it was abnormal, per se, for people not to find their soulmates before their fifteenth birthday, but it was generally frowned upon. </p>
<p>Amity Blight never understood why that was such a thing. They were children, for crying out loud. Why did they need their soulmates so young? </p>
<p>She was doing just fine without a soulmate. And so were all of her friends. Like...okay so she couldn’t really name any of her friends that didn’t have soulmates but, that didn’t matter. It was fine. Perfect, even. </p>
<p>Amity was thriving. She was always on time, the top student and was very responsible at parties. But not too responsible. Amity could still be fun. Right?</p>
<p>But one night, she was at her friend - or ‘friend’ - Boscha’s house and they were talking about the words on their arms. The first ones that their soulmate said to them, the ones that faded the second that they were spoken aloud. </p>
<p>And Amity was pretty much the only one with her word tattoo still intact on her arm, open for everyone to see. Or they would’ve been, if Amity didn’t always wear long sleeves specifically to hide the words. </p>
<p>“Do you call yourself little miss perfect too, or do you leave that to them?”</p>
<p>Because ordinary, for Amity, was out of the question. No one called her little miss perfect. Right? Who’s them? What happened for this to well, happen?</p>
<p>She was teased about it when she was younger, and the people she surrounded herself with started calling her little miss perfect, as a joke. Everyone did. Except for one of her closest friends, or, ex-closest friends, as it seemed. Maybe she did now. Who knew?</p>
<p>They teased her mercilessly and it would’ve taken all her effort to not cry, but Amity hadn’t cried in so long, she’d forgotten the feeling and lost the urge. She’d force herself to smile and laugh along, until soon enough, it came naturally. </p>
<p>They did what they usually did at sleepovers. Eat too much ice cream, popcorn and pizza, watch movies, play truth or dare, talk about boys, do each other’s hair, try and summon a demon, share secrets and all that jazz. </p>
<p>Amity had a lot of practice when it came to saying the thing people wanted to hear. Whether or not it was the ‘right’ thing. And so what if she lied during truth or dare, and made up secrets to share. Didn’t everyone?</p>
<p>And it’s not like they would ever know. And before they could find it in themselves to bring it up, everyone fell asleep. Well, everyone except Amity. She couldn’t fall asleep if anyone else was in the room. She had the twins to thank for that. </p>
<p>So she just sat by her window, looking into the night sky. She could see the stars, and almost hoped that one of them was a shooting star so that she could make a wish on it. </p>
<p>Not like she believed in that stuff of course. Wishing on shooting stars was for children. And Amity was not a child. But she couldn’t help the thought from crossing her mind…</p>
<p>***<br/>
Boscha was telling Amity about a new girl that was transferring (or something) to their school. Well, telling, complaining about, it was all the same with Boscha. </p>
<p>“What’s the big deal?” Amity accidentally blurted out. </p>
<p>“You’re joking, right? Amity, please tell me that you’re not being serious right now.” </p>
<p>“I’m just saying,” So Amity was really doing this. Huh. “That I don’t see why you care so much about a new student? I’m the top student, you’re the captain of the girls football team. It’s just who we are. It’s not going to change because of a stupid new girl.”</p>
<p>Their - well, Boscha’s - posse greeted them, and started talking to Boscha about sports and whatever. Amity used to like sports, but….she didn’t like to think about why.</p>
<p>So she just looked around. And there she was, or so Amity guessed. </p>
<p>It had to be her, didn’t it? The new girl they’d been talking about. She’d never seen someone look so out of place and yet so at home. </p>
<p>“That’s her,” someone said, not-so-subtly pointing to the girl Amity had seen. </p>
<p>“The new girl,” someone else sneered. </p>
<p>Amity just rolled her eyes. “Come on, don’t you guys think you can cool it a little? It’s not like every boy in school is going to forget about you and like her. I mean-” she cut herself off, not having the words to explain it. “She’s just one girl, why do we care so much about her? We have classes and homework and-” </p>
<p>“What if she’s smarter than you? And you’re not the student with the highest grades anymore? What’d you think of her then, little miss perfect?” </p>
<p>“I-”</p>
<p>“Then what? Exactly. We don’t know anything about her. What if she’s like, a witch or something and steals all of our skills? She takes Boscha’s sportiness and their artistic talent and all your school stuff? You never know.”</p>
<p>They didn’t. This girl could be anything. But that also meant that she could be a perfectly nice, agreeable, open-hearted and- she was talking to her. Amity’s former best friend. Amity decided, in that very moment, that she did not like this girl one bit. </p>
<p>But, class was starting soon and Amity didn’t exactly have the time to brainstorm a list of everything she absolutely despised about the new girl. So she went to class. Being the student with the highest grades didn’t exactly come easy, after all. </p>
<p>And, just like they were in some sort of coming-of-age movie, the teacher cleared their throat and announced the new kid. Luz Noceda, was her name, Amity learned.<br/>
“Take a seat next to Amity,” the teacher said, and a little part of Amity died inside. </p>
<p>But she forced a smile, and Luz followed with a real smile and a wave. Neither of them said anything; they just paid attention to the lesson. </p>
<p>And yet, once again, just like it was a movie, the teacher had to leave the classroom. Unsupervised. Amity always hated when their teacher did that because it meant-</p>
<p>Boom. Crash. All that. Amity couldn’t even begin to imagine what her classmates had done to trigger...those things. But those things weren’t the worst part, not for Amity, at least. That title was reserved for her friends, mainly Boscha. </p>
<p>Because they wouldn’t stop talking. They never did, but at least when the teacher was teaching, Amity couldn’t hear them. And that meant that their words couldn’t worm their way into her head and make her lose focus, being losing focus meant that she wouldn’t do as well in her classes and she’d just lose everything she’d ever worked for. </p>
<p>So yeah, she hated her friends distracting her the most. </p>
<p>They were just laughing then, about something that Amity couldn’t hear. And then she got hit by a paper airplane. Except, this paper airplane had words on it. </p>
<p>It was teasing her, of course, calling her little miss perfect - something Amity guessed was for the specific reason that she absolutely hated the nickname. It was so-</p>
<p>“Do you call yourself little miss perfect too, or do you leave that to them?” </p>
<p>What? What? What? Wha- okay, Amity, that’s enough. After going through the seven stages of grief - in half of a second, of course - she looked up to see who said that, the words, the ones written on her arm, the ones that she could literally feel fading away from that ‘tattoo’ on her arm, and it was none other than Luz Noceda. </p>
<p>A girl. The new girl. She swore, probably like, ten times, all internally. Her parents were going to have a field day with that information. That is, if this so-called field day was actually just The Hunger Games. </p>
<p>Why did her soulmate have to be a girl, why did her soulmate have to be this girl, why did- </p>
<p>“Are you okay?” Luz Noceda asked her, “you look like you’re going to pass out. Do you have water? Any like, medicine for this? I can go get the teacher and tell them you need to go to the bathroom or something-”</p>
<p>Amity found her face flushing, then shook her head. </p>
<p>“Aren’t you going to say something?” Luz asked, but there was nothing mean about her words. There was nothing mean about her, period. Luz radiated happiness and light and excitement and buoyancy and enthusiasm and- “seriously, you look like you’re going to pass out. Are you sure that you don’t have any water?” </p>
<p>Once again, Amity shook her head, and luckily, her face wasn’t as warm as before. </p>
<p>Luz seemed to go through a state of realization. “Oh my god,” she started, “oh my god, oh my god, are you mute? I’m so sorry if I was pressuring you into talking, I didn’t know and I’m so, so, so, sorry, please forgive me, I-”</p>
<p>Amity had trained her ears to identify Boscha’s laughter, and contrary to what she had expected, she didn’t hear Boscha laughing at her. </p>
<p>She was ready to pretend that this was a coincidence, that this had never happened. Because Luz Noceda, as cute as she was, was most certainly not Amity’s soulmate. </p>
<p>“I talk. I just only really interact with a select few. It’s better that way, and stops me from making friends that are boring and ordinary,” </p>
<p>“Oh,” Luz said, and Amity noticed words on Luz’s arm. They were fading, yeah, but Amity could still read them. She’d always had perfect eye sight - it was something that Boscha and her posse teased her about, sure, but it really did come in handy at times like these. What could she say? She was curious. </p>
<p>She craned her neck slightly, trying to get a better view of the whole phrase. And there it was, right in front of her, no mistaking it:</p>
<p>“I talk. I just only really interact with a select few. It’s better that way, and stops me from making friends that are boring and ordinary.” </p>
<p>Well that- that was definitely something. Amity looked up at Luz, whose cheeks were almost tinted red, but she was sure it was just the light. </p>
<p>They were soulmates, apparently. She couldn’t really deny it now, as the words on both of their arms faded away. </p>
<p>But just because she’d found her soulmate today didn’t mean that she had to deal with it, right? It could be a mistake in the system or… they could just be platonic soulmates or, something like that. There had to be a perfectly logical explanation for...this.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. in search of silver lining, we discover…</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>thank you to every single comment i got, for telling and/or asking me to continue this. </p><p>y'all did it. i've been pressured. sorry if my updates aren't frequent, school is...a lot.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>What was the whole thing with soulmates anyway? Who was to say that the universe, or whoever was giving them these tattoos, was right? What if someone fell in love with someone who wasn’t their soulmate? Or they didn’t connect with their soulmate? </span>
</p><p>
  <span>What if soulmates didn’t exist, and they were just living in one of those dystopian novels where the government assigned soulmates to stop people from searching for their love and finding the secrets they were hiding?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Or maybe she was just overthinking it. Why did her soulmate have to be a </span>
  <em>
    <span>girl</span>
  </em>
  <span>? This couldn’t be happening, not again. Amity just had to be </span>
  <em>
    <span>perfect</span>
  </em>
  <span>. It was what she did, who she was, it’s why she wasn’t friends with </span>
  <em>
    <span>her </span>
  </em>
  <span>anymore. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her parents had suspected that </span>
  <em>
    <span>something </span>
  </em>
  <span>was going on there, and her friend already hadn’t fit into the picture of who the Blight family associated with. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But that didn’t mean Amity didn’t miss her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luz,” Amity whispered to herself, just testing the name out. “Luz Noceda.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The thing is that she’d forgotten that </span>
  <em>
    <span>Luz Noceda</span>
  </em>
  <span> was sitting right next to her. “I’m Amity Blight.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So I’ve heard,” Amity’s face fell, and Luz seemed to have notice. “No, I-I just mean that the teacher said it, and it’s here, on your notebook. It’s a pretty name.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So’s yours.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>There was nothing wrong with making small talk with her </span>
  <em>
    <span>soulmate</span>
  </em>
  <span>, was there? It didn’t make them friends; it barely made them acquaintances. She was just being polite. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thanks! Do you have any pets?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Uh, what?” Or trying to be, at least. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Like a dog or cat or a fish or even something like a gecko or a snake or a-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We have work to do,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know, but-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And I’m going to do it now.” Amity interrupted Luz.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay,” Luz sounded hurt. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It didn’t matter. Amity didn’t care. It was just like...an experiment. A test. She was testing a hypothesis. If soulmates existed, then no matter what Amity did, there would be a ‘connection’ between her and Luz, wouldn’t there?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>So if she was mean to Luz, it wasn’t because she wanted to be. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The teacher came back, eventually, which was good because it meant that Amity didn’t have to deal with Luz radiating sadness and loneliness from the seat next to her. She might’ve felt a little bad about what she was doing, but it was all for the experiment. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She doubted that soulmates were real - the main reason being that hers was supposedly a </span>
  <em>
    <span>girl</span>
  </em>
  <span> - and so when this was all done and clear, maybe she could apologize to Luz and the pair could be friends. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her parents would be proud of her for disproving soulmates and let her pick her </span>
  <em>
    <span>own </span>
  </em>
  <span>friends, which meant that she could be friends with Luz and </span>
  <em>
    <span>her old best friend </span>
  </em>
  <span>again. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>So yeah, Amity was sure that she was doing the right thing in how she treated Luz. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It would all work out in the end.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity just smiled to herself and listened to the rest of the teacher’s lesson. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>***</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity sat with Boscha and her posse at lunch. Just like always. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luckily, their school had uniforms - a sentence most people wouldn’t ever think - and said uniforms involved long sleeved clothing, which meant that Amity’s tattoo, and lack thereof, would remain hidden. Everything was working out perfectly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The other girls were talking about something and Amity wasn’t really listening. It was either about sports, a boy or multiple boys. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Every once in a while, Boscha looked over at Amity and expected her to say something witty, but for the most part, Amity had lunch to think. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>About Luz, mainly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>How could she </span>
  <em>
    <span>not </span>
  </em>
  <span>think about Luz?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She was such an interesting person, so full of joy and so easily excited, Amity could tell that easily. </span>
  <em>
    <span>She’d make a good friend</span>
  </em>
  <span>, she realized, but then she remembered that she’d probably ending up hurting her before she could become her friend. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>On the topic of Luz, there she was. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was her first day, Amity remembered. That meant she didn’t have any where to sit. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>A good soulmate would invite her to sit with them, but Amity didn’t see herself as that.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>So she walked over to another table, one where there were only two people sitting. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And Amity knew both of them, of course she did. And Amity most certainly did </span>
  <em>
    <span>not </span>
  </em>
  <span>interact with everyone; just with a select few. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was </span>
  <em>
    <span>her </span>
  </em>
  <span>and him, that one illusions guy. Was his name Julius? It was something like that, Amity knew. They welcomed her to the table, with wide smiles and laughter. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Of course they would get along. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Because they were both such creative, interesting and overall great people, weren’t they? She just remembered hanging with-</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Is little miss perfect zoning out,” Boscha fake-gasped and teased. “Or are my eyes deceiving me?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sorry, I didn’t sleep well last night.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Well, whose fault was it exactly that she stayed up until one in the morning reading Azura? But she wasn’t exactly about to tell </span>
  <em>
    <span>Boscha </span>
  </em>
  <span>that. Luckily, she didn’t ask. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Huh,” was all Boscha said. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The attention was making her uncomfortable, so she cleared her throat. “Have you seen what drinks are in the fridge today?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>No one did, apparently. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, I’m in the mood for an overpriced milkshake, so I’m gonna-” she stood up, silently congratulating herself for being able to get away from her boy-liking friends. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But like, she wasn’t gay or anything. She’d just never had a crush on a guy before.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It’s not like it was her fault though; the guys at her school just weren’t really that attractive. But she hadn’t had a crush on a girl either. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Amity!” A girl nearly shouted, making Amity realize that she’d bumped into something. A table, a lunch table. There were only three people there. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The Julius guy, Luz and </span>
  <em>
    <span>her</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Willow,” Amity whispered out. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are you okay?” Luz practically jumped out of the seat, as if that was going to help Amity in any way. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” Amity said, brushing off her clothes. “Just bumped my leg.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey, Amity.” The Julius guy said. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hi,” she forced a smile, really hoping that Boscha and her posse weren’t watching. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You don’t remember my name, do you?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity didn’t even have to answer. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s Augustus. Want to see a card trick?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m-” Amity started. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m gonna give you a nickname. How about Gus?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luz was smiling; so much so that she was shining in joy. Amity couldn’t help but smile at that. She wondered what was up with the temperature control in the school. It always became so warm at the weirdest times. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Gus. I like it.” He smiled too. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Great, now everyone was smiling. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The milkshake, Amity remembered. She told Boscha she was going to get an overpriced milkshake. Why did being around Luz make her forget everything?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>That was going to make her experiment very difficult. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Not if she got over it, she reminded herself. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She didn’t bother to say goodbye. After all, they were </span>
  <em>
    <span>not </span>
  </em>
  <span>friends. She just left, the only things on her mind being the experiment - which she still had to plan out, she (bitterly) remembered - and the overpriced milkshake. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But she just had a feeling that everything would work out perfectly. Everything would, if she worked hard enough. Otherwise, what was the point?</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>happy 21st of september,,,i hope you remember. </p><p>and drumroll please,,,before i tell you who amity's characterization is based on. </p><p>dun dun dun</p><p>it's ME!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. judgement taught us that our hearts were wrong</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It had been a week since the whole cafeteria, zoning-out, milkshake, Luz fiasco, but Amity couldn’t get it out of her head. </p><p>Was that a bad thing? Amity didn’t really know, because she was <em> trying </em>to focus on her...yeah those were just doodles.</p><p>Darn it. Amity <em> needed </em> to be paying attention to class, to her schoolwork. She couldn’t be <em> thinking </em> about Luz or Willow or Gus again. <em> They weren’t her friends </em>, she reminded herself for no less than the hundredth time that week. </p><p>But if being unable to focus in class wasn’t enough - which it was, for the record - it was nothing compared to what it was at home. </p><p>Because as annoying as it is to have one older sibling, two is worse. <em> Especially </em>when they’re twins. Sure, Amity trusts them more than anyone else in her entire life, but that didn’t mean that murder plans didn’t cross her mind every single day. </p><p>That’s just how it was. </p><p>So of <em> course </em>they were the first ones to notice her lack of tattoo. </p><p>And yeah, they teased her about it, they pestered her with questions and threatened to post her diary up all over the school - Amity was convinced that Edric got Emira to watch Mean Girls. He definitely kinned Karen. Or Damien. Or hey, could be both. </p><p>But the point is that their teasing didn’t last.</p><p>They didn’t pester her with questions, they asked her a couple, sure, and they were <em> extremely </em> private. But it was nothing <em> too </em>terrible. </p><p>And when Amity had accidentally let it slip that her soulmate was a <em> girl </em>and not a boy, they didn’t even bat an eye. </p><p>Apparently both Emira and Edric knew girls who had soulmates who were girls, and boys whose soulmates were boys. </p><p>“Your secret is safe with us,” Emira said, and she sounded serious and caring and <em> nurturing </em>, something Amity could never associate her with being. “Mittens.” Yep, there it was. Everything was how it should be. Well, almost. </p><p>“I’m friends with girls who have girls as soulmates. If you want, I could ask them a few questions for you, or you can meet them yourself. They wouldn’t even have to know that you’re my sister. Just-if you need a guardian, you know…” he trailed off. </p><p>“You’d do that, for me?” Amity couldn’t believe her eyes or ears. </p><p>“Well, you’re my baby sister, aren’t you, Mittens?” Edric reached up a hand to ruffle Amity’s hair, but she caught his arm before he could. </p><p>“Your baby sister with quick reflexes.” Emira pointed out.</p><p>“Yes, because that’s <em> my </em> doing,” Edric said, his words literally dripping in sarcasm. </p><p>They could’ve gone on bickering for <em> hours </em> , but Amity coughed, not wanting to listen to <em> that </em>again. </p><p>“I’d like that, yes,” she said, to Edric. </p><p>He smiled and clapped his hands together, “Wonderful. I’m going to raid the kitchen and tell mom and dad that it was you, when they ask.” </p><p>“Uh huh,” Emira just said, knowing the threat was empty. </p><p>“Why’d you say it like that?” </p><p>Amity rolled her eyes and walked away, knowing she could do nothing to stop her older siblings bickering over...nothing. She could do her best to drown it out with music. </p><p>Music that she’d listen to while doing her schoolwork and...dreaming up a plan. Right. Because soulmates <em> did not exist </em>. It just didn’t make sense, right?</p><p>***</p><p>Edric kept his promise, and Amity met girls with girls as soulmates. They seemed so...happy and kind and nice, and they had everything that Amity ever really wanted. </p><p>And she found herself wondering if soulmates exist, yet again, but on the other side of the argument. Like, what if she had a platonic soulmate? </p><p>Someone who was always there, someone who was meant to support <em> her, </em> the way that she supported them, for the <em> rest of their days </em>. Like best friends did, yeah. </p><p>She’d always thought that soulmates were overrated and didn’t make sense, but if the point was to have someone who made her feel like a better version of herself, then maybe there was a reason for soulmates to exist after all. </p><p>Because all that time that she’d spent with Willow, with Luz, and with all those people who she wasn’t supposed to be friends with, it never felt <em> wrong </em>, no matter what people tried to tell her. </p><p>There was this feeling that she got - an inexplicable happiness - whenever she was around Luz, even though it’d only been two weeks. And she wondered if Luz felt the same. So what did it matter if her soulmate was a girl? If having a soulmate meant being <em> happy </em>, then she didn’t care if it was a girl. </p><p>But her parents, Boscha, everyone, they were still there. </p><p>She couldn’t just be who she wanted to be, whoever that even was. </p><p>Because she wasn’t even fifteen years old. She hadn’t a clue about what in her life was even permanent. What mattered, what didn’t.</p><p>Was risking everything worth this so-called happiness? What if it all blew up in her face? What then? How would she ever come back from that? </p><p>And it wasn’t like she could have the best of both worlds, could she? </p><p>***</p><p>“Hey,” Luz greeted as she took her seat next to Amity. </p><p>“Hi,” Amity responded. </p><p>“Is that an Azura pen?” </p><p>“Uh, yeah, yeah it is.” Amity was whispering now, hoping that no one around them could hear her. She didn’t like people knowing she read <em> those </em>books. </p><p>“I love those books!” Luz nearly yelled out in excitement. But she must’ve noticed Amity’s face because she lowered her voice. “Have you read the fifth one yet?”</p><p>“No, I-uh haven’t gotten the chance.” </p><p>“You can borrow my copy!” Luz smiled, “if you want.” She added, almost sheepishly. </p><p>Was Amity blushing? Yes, oh, yes, she was blushing. Uh, deep breaths Amity, deep breaths. It was just uh-warm in there. Yeah. Everything was just <em> perfect. </em></p><p>“Really?” Luz nodded. “Yeah, I’d,uh, I’d like that. Thanks.”</p><p>And then class started, but - and not for the first, second, or tenth time - Amity couldn’t pay attention. There was just something about Luz that drew her in. </p><p>Amity couldn’t tell if it was because of the way Luz held herself, how enthusiastically she participated in class discussions, the little doodles that she made, of anything and everything. It was...nice. Yeah, that’s the word. Nice. </p><p>Amity decided that she wanted to be friends with Luz <em> now </em>, before she got the chance to hurt her by manipulating her into that plan she’d been so keen on making. </p><p>Because screw that plan. So what if soulmates didn’t exist?</p><p>Hers could make her a new friend, and that, at the very least, was worth it.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>hi!! i'm back!! </p><p>did i do this instead of school? yes.<br/>do i regret it? shockingly little. </p><p>really hope this doesn't blow up in my face...</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. but they're the ones that we look down upon</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Amity’s parents were… a lot to deal with at times. Sure, they had her best interests at heart because of course they did, they were her </span>
  <em>
    <span>parents</span>
  </em>
  <span>, it was their </span>
  <em>
    <span>job</span>
  </em>
  <span> to. But they also had high expectations for their youngest daughter. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And their oldest daughter. And their son. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was just...who they were, as people. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They’d always been high-achievers and everything always worked out for them. So they expected Amity to do the same. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>To have the most powerful friends, strongest connections and all that jazz. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And Boscha...Boscha fit into </span>
  <em>
    <span>that </span>
  </em>
  <span>category perfectly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>With her looks, the way she carried herself and her family’s money. Sure, the Blight’s were well-off, but they had next to nothing when it came to being compared to Boscha’s family fortune. Which is why Amity just </span>
  <em>
    <span>had </span>
  </em>
  <span>to be friends with Boscha. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>To get that cash. For her parents.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Yeah, because that was a completely normal thing to do. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Of course, her parents had their own reasons for why they said “Boscha’s a really good friend for you to have, Amity.” or “Amity, have you asked Boscha to hang out lately? There’s a lot of cool places you can go together.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They wanted Amity to </span>
  <em>
    <span>learn </span>
  </em>
  <span>from Boscha or something. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>As if Amity wasn’t already first place on the track to become valedictorian. As if she hadn’t been the captain of a sport’s team as a </span>
  <em>
    <span>thirteen</span>
  </em>
  <span> year old. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sure, she quit the team, but she was </span>
  <em>
    <span>thirteen</span>
  </em>
  <span> when she’d been on it. And it wasn’t like she quit forever, it was just that she didn’t really have the time or energy. She had a soft spot for sports, still, after all those years - as much as she tried to deny it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>So she went to all of Boscha’s sports games, like the one that was happening right </span>
  <em>
    <span>then</span>
  </em>
  <span>, to see both Boscha play and the posse cheer. As cheerleaders. Because of course they were good at </span>
  <em>
    <span>that</span>
  </em>
  <span>. It seemed as though everyone had their thing. Except for her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>So she just watched the games, only half-paying attention because there was </span>
  <em>
    <span>so much else</span>
  </em>
  <span> happening at the same time. And she’d seen it all before - the team always used the same plays. They weren’t much for variety; staying the same was </span>
  <em>
    <span>much </span>
  </em>
  <span>easier. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But Luz? Luz was new and cool and intriguing. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And Amity spent hours contemplating Luz, thinking about her, thinking about whether or not it was worth it, to be friends with her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Yet every time that she decided it wasn’t, Luz showed up and Amity couldn’t think of anything but Luz Noceda. But that was fine, right?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And it wasn’t some sort of cliche thing like </span>
  <em>
    <span>only</span>
  </em>
  <span> being able to see Luz (in a crowded room), it was more like, that all of the things she </span>
  <em>
    <span>could </span>
  </em>
  <span>see, Luz was at the center. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was fine, unless someone noticed. And </span>
  <em>
    <span>someone </span>
  </em>
  <span>meant Boscha or her parents. That would result in a lot of explaining - of things that she didn’t want to explain. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And Luz was there, at the game, in the stands. And she was definitely more interesting than the players themselves. But Amity couldn’t just leave, couldn’t just go and </span>
  <em>
    <span>talk</span>
  </em>
  <span> to her or something. She was here for </span>
  <em>
    <span>Boscha</span>
  </em>
  <span>, for the posse, for-</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Mittens!” She heard someone nearly yell out. And there were only two people in the world who called her mittens - and yep, there they were. The twins. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They just sat down, one on each side of her, not bothering to even look at her reaction. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Because her siblings teasing her was exactly what she needed right now. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But they didn’t. Tease her, that was. They just sat there, in near silence. It was almost comforting, to just have her brother and sister there. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And when the game was done, the two of them made a point in telling her that her parents weren’t home, so she could go...somewhere. If she wanted. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And she did. She wanted to talk to Luz, to hang out with Luz, to be with Luz. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luckily for her, while Boscha and the posse of cheerleaders were showering and getting changed after the game - which they won - Luz came over to </span>
  <em>
    <span>her</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hi,” Luz greeted, a smile on her face. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey,” was all that Amity could say, the mid-afternoon heat finally getting to her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I have the fifth Azura book, if you want. Because you said you did but uh, I’m not really sure if you still do, you know?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I do, thanks.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Cool,” Luz made some sort of finger guns before reaching into the bag she was wearing, one Amity hadn’t noticed before, and taking out the book. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Just uh, let me know when you’re finished, so we can talk about it.” Luz smiled. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thanks, yeah, of course,” Amity said, but Luz was already wandering off. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She could hear Emira chuckle, but neither her nor Edric said anything. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well Mittens, we’re going to a party. We’d invite you, but I’m sure you have homework to do.” Emira said instead. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Very funny, thanks.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Amity-” Edric started, before his twin dragged him away. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Before she did though, Amity saw where Edric was looking and followed his gaze. It led to Willow, who was walking over towards her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Without Luz. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What are you doing?” Willow whispered to her, not bothering to say hello. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What do you mean?” Amity whispered back. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“With Luz! I know you have,” she paused, realizing that she was almost yelling, and lowered her voice. “Ulterior motives.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You don’t actually like her! You just want to use her,” she kept her voice quiet, but Amity could barely hear her final words - it was almost like Willow didn’t want her to. “Like you used me,” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Willow, I-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t want to hear it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I can explain, I swear!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I gave you a thousand chances, you didn’t take </span>
  <em>
    <span>any </span>
  </em>
  <span>of them. It’s too late now. Now, I’m just going to protect </span>
  <em>
    <span>my </span>
  </em>
  <span>friend like you should’ve protected yours.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity felt terrible. She wanted to be mad at Willow, but she couldn’t. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Because Willow had every right to be mad at Amity, no matter whether or not it was her fault. It took her a long time - longer than she’d like to admit - to realize that, but she did now and she wanted to apologize. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She just had to accept that Willow didn’t have to forgive her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Willow, who’d already walked away, leaving her alone in the stands. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luckily, Boscha waved her over, and she wasn’t alone anymore. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>***</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And one day, the following week, at lunch, Amity was just sitting next to Boscha, surrounded by her friends. They were talking, but Amity wasn’t really listening. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Until she heard them say Willow’s name. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They were teasing her, Amity realized before she’d even zoned back in. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And it just felt wrong. It always did, but now so much more so than before. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She couldn’t take it anymore. She pushed her lunch away and stood up, catching Boscha’s attention. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What?” You mad because you didn’t get the best grade in the class?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s it.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What is?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span> “You. Me. I’m done, I’m going.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Where?” Boscha scoffed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Uh, there,” Amity looked towards Gus and Willow and...Luz. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Say goodbye to your social life,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I think I’m saying hello to one, actually,” and she walked away. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Then she remembered that she still had to apologize to Willow, for more reasons than one. She smiled as she got there, hoping that Willow didn’t hate her </span>
  <em>
    <span>that </span>
  </em>
  <span>much. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Can-can I sit here?” She was able to sputter out. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Of course!” Gus said,</span>
</p><p>
  <span>At the same time Luz said, “Yeah,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And Willow started to say no, but stopped herself. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why not,” was what she said instead. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thank you so much,” Amity said, and that was that. A </span>
  <em>
    <span>start</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>me, while writing @ myself: hey, you know that stories aren't just internal monologues and things happen right. <br/>also me: sorry, can't here you over the sound of the thoughts. </p><p>sorry if willow is a little ooc :(</p><p>thanks for reading, i hope you've had a good day and please comment about ANYTHING i love to read them!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. the rules say our emotions don't comply</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>It was really easy to forget things. Important things. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Like to keep one’s arms covered after the tattoo that indicated whether or not they’d met their soulmates had disappeared in front of their parents. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But Amity was tired, and it was really warm outside. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They asked of course, when it disappeared, and Amity knew that she couldn’t tell her parents the truth - she rarely ever could - and had enough practice in coming up with lies to give one that easily passed for the truth. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Everyone calls me little miss perfect, I didn’t even notice it was gone until much later.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well then we have to find him for you,” her mom said. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are you sure?” Amity forced out. “You really don’t have to,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity was careful to make it sound like she was offering her parents an opportunity, not the other way around. It didn’t work, not really. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, no, our daughter isn’t going to just live life without a soulmate. You’re young, and what’s more beautiful than young love?” Her dad asked, and Amity died a little inside. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her dad certainly didn’t find young love beautiful when the people in love were anything other than rich, pale or lightly tanned, ‘attractive’, physically fit or </span>
  <em>
    <span>straight</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>So if they did what they were planning, they’d find out the truth. And the truth didn’t take what they wanted into consideration.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Whether that was lucky or unlucky, Amity didn’t know. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But they did it - they took her to the soulmate specialist. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Because that </span>
  <em>
    <span>totally </span>
  </em>
  <span>didn’t sound sketchy in any way, shape or form. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was almost like a doctor’s office - as if it needed any more warning signs that it was not a good place - and so Amity sat down in the waiting area, surrounded by teenagers and their impatient parents, and just regular old impatient adults. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Everyone took this all so...seriously. Amity just didn’t see the point, much less why there were all seeing this so-called specialist. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Did they not find their soulmate? Fall in love with someone who wasn’t their soulmate? Did the words on their arms suddenly change? </span>
</p><p>
  <span>What was this place, soulmate customer service? Amity wanted out. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But she couldn’t leave, not when her mother and father were right there. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>So she sat down, in the waiting room. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She was pretty much staring at the floor when she heard someone else enter the room. And it wasn’t just any someone else, they had a </span>
  <em>
    <span>very </span>
  </em>
  <span>familiar voice. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was - Amity looked up - none other than Luz Noceda. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Because of fu-</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Of course it was. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They made eye contact for a second, right as Luz coughed - looking up at who brought her there, a woman that Amity recognized and </span>
  <em>
    <span>knew</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She was famous, well infamous, in their city. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But what was she doing there, with Luz? That didn’t matter, not right then. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Not when Luz was coughing, while looking directly at her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>No, not </span>
  <em>
    <span>at </span>
  </em>
  <span>her. She was looking right </span>
  <em>
    <span>into </span>
  </em>
  <span>her soul. And it didn’t feel intrusive. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luckily, Amity could hear what Luz was saying. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Can I go for a walk? Being around all these people makes me…” Luz shuddered. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” the infamous lady waved Luz away. “Just-be back soon for your appointment. Or not. I don’t even know why we’re here.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Your si-” Luz started, before the infamous lady interrupted.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Just...get your fresh air or whatever,” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay, </span>
  <em>
    <span>mom</span>
  </em>
  <span>,” Luz said, and Amity was intrigued because she couldn’t quite determine the relationship between the two, and she found the dynamic between them really cool. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity looked back after turning away for a few seconds - so that she didn’t look like </span>
  <em>
    <span>too </span>
  </em>
  <span>much of a stalker, of course - and saw that Luz was looking right at her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Oh. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Oh. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ohhhhh. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity stood up, awkwardly smiling and walking past the other people in the waiting room before finding her parents again. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She made some (bad) excuse about needing to go to the bathroom, and her parents bought it. So that was good. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Now all she had to do was follow Luz - and hope that what Luz was insinuating was for Amity to follow her - so that Amity wasn’t unintentionally stalking Luz or something. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She followed Luz, who, though technically having gone for a walk, wasn’t going on the sort of walk you’d expect someone who asked to go on a walk for </span>
  <em>
    <span>air </span>
  </em>
  <span>to go on. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Meaning she was running up several flights of stairs that led to the building roof. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>How Luz found those stairs, Amity didn’t know, but she was too busy running up the stairs behind Luz to really care. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And there she was, at the top of the stairs. Waiting for something. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her, Amity realized. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luz was waiting for her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>This was confirmed by Luz’s cheeky grin and words. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Amity! It’s so good to see you! I didn’t know if you understood me when I was looking at you and asking to leave, I wish I could’ve been more clear, I’m so sorry, I just, I really needed to get away from that place. It just seems awful, you get me?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Uh, yeah,” Amity agreed. “So what’d you want to...do?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, I didn’t really think that far ahead.” Luz said, but she was still smiling. “Sit with me?” She added, as she moved to the edge of the roof, where they had a view over at least a third of the city. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’d love to,” Amity said as she sat right next to Luz. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Wow. It was the closest they’d been...ever. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luz’s hair looked really soft. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And her eyes were pretty. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Especially in the sunlight.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Was she getting lost in them? More importantly, did Luz notice that she was?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Darn it. Say something, okay. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How’s life?” Amity mentally cursed herself for saying the worst thing ever. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“School’s fun,” was what Luz said. “Who’s your favourite Azura character?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Your’s is Azura the Good Witch, isn’t it?” Amity said instead of answering. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Absolutely. She’s amazing. She’s so powerful and </span>
  <em>
    <span>good </span>
  </em>
  <span>and strong-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity smirked, just a bit. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And she has this </span>
  <em>
    <span>amazing </span>
  </em>
  <span>green hair. Which is my favourite hair colour on people. Except for like this dark auburn red colour. I don’t know how to explain it, but I just </span>
  <em>
    <span>love </span>
  </em>
  <span>it so much, you know?” Amity really hoped that Luz didn’t notice her turning into a tomato. Like, really </span>
  <em>
    <span>really </span>
  </em>
  <span>hoped. “But whose your favourite character?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hecate was really cool in the fifth book,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“True,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But Azura’s still my favourite. She’s so strong and funny and always stays positive and is </span>
  <em>
    <span>always </span>
  </em>
  <span>there for her friends and allies, and I just think that’s, um, nice.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity looked over at Luz, but Luz wasn’t looking at her. She was looking into the sky. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What are you looking at?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luz looked back at Amity, and Amity could’ve almost sworn that Luz was blushing. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Almost. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The sky. The buildings. It’s all so...wow.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity looked where Luz was looking, and found that she was right.  It was...wow. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But we have to go back, your parents are going to get worried.” Luz said, and Amity didn’t know if she was imagining things or if Luz almost seemed...sad. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh. Yeah. You too,” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And they did. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>When she finally got back down to the waiting room, Amity was worried that her parents would yell at her. Luckily, they didn’t. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They hadn’t even been called into to the office of the ‘specialist’ yet. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>So that was...good?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Blight, Amity.” The receptionist called out. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Oh. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Great</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And so they three of them went inside. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And they were greeted by this man who was somewhere between sixty and one thousand and eighty years old. He was also wearing this outfit that looked like pajamas. If pajamas were navy blue with stars. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He seemed to have noticed Amity’s look of...curiosity. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s my uniform, sorry.” He forced a small laugh. “The soulmate crew’s really into navy and yellow stars; it wasn’t up to me.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Both of Amity’s parents forced smiles at that, no doubt wanting straight answers and not awkward small talk. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Now, what’s up?” Amity’s parents mentally groaned so hard that Amity heard it in hers. “What does the little lady need?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Her words disappeared sometime ago, but she never noticed who it was that said the words.” Her father explained.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh.” The not-pajama wearing man said. “Interesting.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Explain,” Amity’s mother demanded. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Most people don’t miss their soulmates.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well our daughter did. Now don’t tell me that you don’t have a soulmate tracking system or anything like that. You have to.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ah well, you see,” he forced another smile. “We actually don’t have one.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So what do we do for our, uh, daughter?” Her father asked. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He shrugged. “Best I can do is to recommend soul-searching. I’m sure that if she thinks hard enough, she’ll be able to find something memorable about the words on her arm, something someone said that stood out.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amazing. Brilliant. Never been thought of before. Wow. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But everyone said those words to her, or a variation of them. The words on her arm became her nickname. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Everyone </span>
  </em>
  <span>called her those words.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The old man only shrugged. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’re leaving now,” Amity’s mother demanded.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And they did, without as much as saying goodbye or thanking them for helping, even if they didn’t, just as a courtesy. Amity was really just hoping that her web of lies wasn’t going to blow up in her face. </span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>all of you saying that amity blight is like,,canon amity is really fun because i based her characterization off of me.</p><p>(does this mean i'm an amity kinnie or amity's a me kinnie)</p><p>anyways,,,sorry if this is ooc i barely remembered the soulmate au part of the soulmate au,,,so voilà. i have now remembered.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. but we’ll defy the rules until we die</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>For the rest of the week, all that was on Amity’s mind was the web of lies. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She was so scared about that blowing up in her face that she </span>
  <em>
    <span>almost </span>
  </em>
  <span>forgot how her parents would lose it if she didn’t ace a test. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And unlike Edric and Emira, Amity had no intention of cheating, nor did she know how to, but that’s not the point. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Okay</span>
  </em>
  <span>? </span>
</p><p>
  <span>So she kind of...forced herself to get over it. By temporary turning off her feelings for Luz. And it worked too. Sort of. As long as she didn’t have to see Luz, or talk about Luz, or </span>
  <em>
    <span>think </span>
  </em>
  <span>about talking about Luz, or think about thinking about-</span>
</p><p>
  <span>So, maybe Luz made Amity feel...inexplicably anxious and nervous and worried and scared, but in a good way, </span>
  <em>
    <span>just </span>
  </em>
  <span>by being around her. What was so wrong with that?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ah. Her parents. Of course. The reason that she needed to focus. Right. That. Moment. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>A couple (hundred) deep breaths did the trick. Well, that and a couple hours of staring at a blank paper did. The point is that she got herself to focus. Just enough. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Without thinking about her, of sitting on the roof together, so close that Amity had almost - but she couldn’t. Because she wasn’t- she </span>
  <em>
    <span>couldn’t </span>
  </em>
  <span>be, right?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But the way Luz made her feel - she couldn’t stop thinking about that. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Why couldn’t she stop thinking about that?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She hadn’t seen Luz in over a week. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Shut up, she told her brain. Shut. Up. It didn’t work. Not really. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She wondered if Luz was thinking the same, if Luz was thinking about </span>
  <em>
    <span>her</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But she couldn’t be. She wouldn’t be. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luz was Luz. Luz didn’t like her. If they really were soulmates, they’d be the best friend kind of soulmates - the kind that no one really wanted, but no one ended up minding having in the end. Amity was almost okay with that. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But then she saw Luz again, at school, and all the conclusions she’d made fell apart again. Every time she as much as looked at Luz, her heart </span>
  <em>
    <span>melted</span>
  </em>
  <span> and she knew she’d only ever be happy if it was with Luz and Gus and Willow. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Yes, Willow. Who she knew she’d been awful to. Who she knew she hadn’t fixed things with. But she missed her. Willow Park, her best friend. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey,” Someone said to Amity as she was packing up after the end of class. Amity looked up. It was Willow.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Willow, hi!” Amity said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Willow let out a breath. “Luz asked me to get you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity hoped that Willow didn’t see her blush, but she doubted it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh?” Amity said, after she was sure the red left her face. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah. She likes you for some reason. Even after…” Willow paused. “I told her.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Willow, you know that if I could, I’d go back and-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I do.” Willow interrupted. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Good, so-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Actions speak louder than words.” Was all Willow said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Right,” Amity forced a smile. “Where we hangin’”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luz’s place.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Right, of course,” Amity nearly stuttered out. “Uh, see you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Uh huh.” Willow said. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Would it be pointless for Amity to hope that it would all work out in the end? That she and Willow would be able to fix their friendship, get over the post and come to mutual conclusions and agreements?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity didn’t really care. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Call her a dreamer, but she wanted to show people that she could grow and change. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>***</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luz and Amity shared one class together. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The one in which they sat next to each other on the first day. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They still sat next to each other, but things were different. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sometimes they actually talked, like out </span>
  <em>
    <span>loud</span>
  </em>
  <span>. When it wasn’t interrupting their teacher. Sometimes they just passed notes, more often than not with jokes that Luz had written on them. It took a lot out of Amity to not laugh. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And sometimes they sat in absolute silence, not as much as acknowledging the others presence. It’d been that way for a bit, mostly because of Amity. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She refused to talk to Luz. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Because talking to Luz made her feel things, things that she told herself she shouldn’t be feeling. Because they were wrong. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>That’s what her parents told her, over and over again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And they were her </span>
  <em>
    <span>parents</span>
  </em>
  <span>, so she trusted them because she was supposed to. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But that day, she gave up on trying. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Talking to Luz felt just right enough that she didn’t care if it was wrong. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She wasn’t hurting anyone, so why did it matter?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hi,” Amity said with a </span>
  <em>
    <span>smile </span>
  </em>
  <span>as she sat down. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Amity!” Luz said, excitement seeping through her voice. “It’s so nice to see you again!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity let out a little giggle at that. “You saw me just yesterday.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah but well,” Luz shrugged. “That was different because you ignored my existence.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity looked down at that, taking out her notebook and writing down the date. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sorry.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s okay, I guess.” Luz shrugged.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I forgive you, it’s okay.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why’d I forgive you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Because I know you, Blight.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity blushed, and Luz kept going. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know that you’d never hurt someone on purpose, not really. You’re a good person, and you’re capable of making the world a much better place.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You really think that?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luz smiled. “I </span>
  <em>
    <span>know </span>
  </em>
  <span>that.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The bell rung, and class began. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>***</span>
</p><p>
  <span>After class, Amity and Luz said their goodbyes to each other and walked to their next classes, which were far away from the other. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity didn’t see Luz until much later that night, when Amity finally got to Luz’s after getting held back for an hour and a half. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Obviously, Gus and Willow were already there. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She peeked into the house, and saw them - and their sleeping bags - already set up in the living room, surrounded by snacks, additional blankets and pillows, and more than a couple games. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She squeezed in through the door and set her up her sleeping bag, for her </span>
  <em>
    <span>first </span>
  </em>
  <span>sleepover, next to the empty one she had assumed was Luz’s.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity decided against asking what it was they did at sleepovers. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Surely Luz had a plan. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Surely was right, and Luz did. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They played the board games, watched a movie, ate snacks and...talked. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Now, if you’ve ever been to a sleepover, you know that talking entails a lot more than normal conversations. And that none of the conversations qualify as normal. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luckily, it didn’t seem that summoning a demon was on the roster. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>(For which Amity was glad). </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They were just playing standard human games. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And yes, Luz was the only one who knew the rules. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But eventually, they </span>
  <em>
    <span>all </span>
  </em>
  <span>got a hang of it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And they were </span>
  <em>
    <span>almost </span>
  </em>
  <span>comfortable with what they were sharing. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was intoxicating, sharing these </span>
  <em>
    <span>personal </span>
  </em>
  <span>things with each other. Amity couldn’t bring herself to stop. Nor could she bring herself to share unprompted either. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It wasn’t loud, and it wasn’t quiet. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It wasn’t hard, and it wasn’t easy. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was just...nice. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And then it happened. (But there were no Gordon and Paulo to share </span>
  <em>
    <span>it </span>
  </em>
  <span>with.)</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was just Amity, alone with her words. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I like you, as </span>
  <em>
    <span>more </span>
  </em>
  <span>than a friend.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The room was silent, so the echo was almost literal. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luz smiles. “C’mere.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity blinks, but before she could say - or think - anything, she was wrapped up in a hug. A very warm, long, blanket-like hug. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I like you too, </span>
  <em>
    <span>soulmate</span>
  </em>
  <span>.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s not a very creative pet name,” Amity whispered to herself. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Soulmate?” Willow asked, at the same time Amity was whispering. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gus was just looking over at the snacks. The chocolate marshmallow pretzels seemed to be catching his eye - as well as Amity’s. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You didn’t know?” Amity asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Willow, I’m sorry-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I thought you were different.” Willow stormed out.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m going after her,” Amity said, releasing herself from Luz’s hold and already having started to run after Willow before she was even finished talking. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I mess everything up, don’t I?” Luz said, more to herself than anyone else. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No,” Gus said, but his mouth was full with a marshmallow, so Luz couldn’t exactly take him seriously. She sighed, and he went on - now having chewed and swallowed it - “I’m just saying, they have history, it’s not your fault.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But I should’ve still been honest.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So what?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Huh?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You made a mistake, that’s okay. You thought you were doing what was best for Willow, isn’t that a good thing? You weren’t doing it for yourself.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luz didn’t realize that before then. But still, Gus went on. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re a good friend, and a good person who does their best, even if you don’t think that you do.” A familiar speech, but Luz wasn’t used to being on this side of it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Everything was changing, wasn’t it?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity ended up finding Willow by the door and had at first thought that she was crying, but soon found that it wasn’t the case. It was just raining. Like it did. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Willow, I know that my words mean nothing, but I’m sorry.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Willow’s head had been in her hands and she’d been sitting in a way that made her look like a little kid who missed their parents. But she looked up at Amity’s words. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why are you here?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity was taken aback at the words, not because the tone was rude, but because it wasn’t. Willow seemed surprised, and not necessarily in a bad way. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity guessed that she hadn’t expected anyone to come after her. Because that’s what she was used to. And Amity felt a pang in her chest. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Willow deserved so much better than </span>
  <em>
    <span>her</span>
  </em>
  <span>, but right then Amity was all she had. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>So she was going to be the best friend that she could be - and never was. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She listened and she talked, she gave advice and got some of her own, she laughed and she cried. And Willow did all the same. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You really like Luz, don’t you?” Willow had said to Amity, who was sitting down next to her, still smiling from a joke Willow had made. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I really do, yeah.” Amity admitted.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luz really likes you too,” Willow said, and it was the first time that there wasn’t any negative connotation to it. She seemed happy for Amity. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Can I hug you?” Amity asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Uh-yeah,” Willow said. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And Amity did. She did everything she wasn’t supposed to. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She was friends with Luz, with Willow and she had a crush on a girl - who liked her too. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She did everything her parents would never ever, ever want her to do. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And it made her feel better than anything she’d ever felt before. And she wanted to stay feeling that way forever. </span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>the luz/gus moment was NOT in my chapter outline but it’s here so y’all better appreciate it. also wow??? i did not mean to make it this angsty??? but um, okay, we’re here, this is what happened, i guess. so i hope you don’t hate it. (or me, for taking so long to write &amp; post this, i kind of got obsessed with julie and the phantoms). </p><p>also i have one more chapter left to write and then the epilogue before we’re like,,,done and i can’t believe it. </p><p>as always, let me know what you think of this, reading these comments make my day! (and wow do i need that rn)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. so let's be sinners to be saints</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Amity realized, right in the middle of the hug, that she should probably do something about her feelings for Luz. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Because Luz wasn’t telepathic. Luz didn’t have the uncanny ability to read her mind. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>There was a small part of Amity’s mind that hoped she would, one day. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But she knew that it took time to get there. Lots of it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And she was more than ready to spend that time with Luz, getting to know her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She broke apart from the hug, and didn’t really know what to say. So she just sat there, crouched down next to Willow, waiting for Willow to say or do something. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Willow didn’t. She just sat there, and Amity just sat there with her. In silence. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And Amity had to say that she didn’t hate it, not like she thought she would. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity heard a noise and she froze, worrying that it was her parents or something. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She calmed herself down though, gently reminding herself that she wasn’t at home, that her parents were asleep and most importantly, were </span>
  <em>
    <span>not </span>
  </em>
  <span>actually there. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Deep breaths Blight, deep breaths. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was Luz, obviously. And Gus too. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gus went over to Willow, and Luz...she went over to Amity.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hi.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorr-” Luz said, at the same time as Amity did. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They shared a giggle at that. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was easier than having a serious moment.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Let’s go somewhere else,” Luz said, extending her arm out for Amity to grab. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity really hoped that Luz didn’t see her face flush red - again - but doubted it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She took Luz’s arm, and stumbled up, her face only inches away from Luz’s. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Away from Luz’s beautiful eyes, her smile, her soft hair and her-</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Where?” Amity said, snapping out of her little daze.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know a place,” Luz said, and then </span>
  <em>
    <span>held Amity’s hand the entire time they walked there</span>
  </em>
  <span>. And then there they were. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The roof of Luz’s house. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m starting to think you have an obsession with hanging out on roofs.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m starting to think that you might be right.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They both laughed at that, together, again. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So what did you want to talk about?” Amity asked, after a solid minute of them sitting down next to each other and staring at the sky, but more particularly, the sunset. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I didn’t,” Luz said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I mean,” Luz corrected herself, turning to face Amity. “I love talking to you, I do. And I’m really glad that we’ve gotten to be friends and that you’re </span>
  <em>
    <span>not </span>
  </em>
  <span>ignoring my presence anymore, you know.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So we’re soulmates, huh.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Isn’t it,” Amity was searching for the right word. “Weird, for you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Yeah, no, that was definitely not the right word. But it was too late.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Weird? What about it is weird?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Having a soulmate who’s a </span>
  <em>
    <span>girl</span>
  </em>
  <span>, when you’re a </span>
  <em>
    <span>girl</span>
  </em>
  <span>?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luz shrugged. “I didn’t really expect either or. I would’ve been fine with either, but I’m glad that it’s you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You didn’t think that you were going to end up with a </span>
  <em>
    <span>guy</span>
  </em>
  <span>?” Amity asked instead of focusing on the fact that </span>
  <em>
    <span>Luz was glad that Amity was her soulmate</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, growing up, I was always fine with both. But not anymore, now it’s just you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh,” Amity said, focusing more on her breathing than Luz’s words. She was okay, she was okay, everything was fine…</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You good?” Luz asked, interrupting Amity’s thoughts. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, yes, no, maybe. I don’t know.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s okay. Well, I mean, it’s not, I’d much rather you be okay, but you can’t be all the time. Which sucks, if you ask me.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah it does.” Amity said, but her heart wasn’t really in it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do you wanna talk about it? I know that there’s something bothering you, just, would you </span>
  <em>
    <span>please </span>
  </em>
  <span>tell me what it is? I might not be able to help you, but I can try.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Another deep breath from Amity.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay, I’ll tell you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thank you,” Luz said, and rested her hand on Amity’s. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Well, that was certainly more than a little bit distracting. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But she still did. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity told Luz </span>
  <em>
    <span>everything</span>
  </em>
  <span> and the words kept coming. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She felt safe.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Actually, truly, very safe. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>For just those few moments, Amity was able to forget why her parents thought it was wrong. Like there was no truth to her parents words, and all they were doing was making up lies with the intent to hurt people like </span>
  <em>
    <span>her</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“They don’t approve of me, and if they </span>
  <em>
    <span>ever</span>
  </em>
  <span> - and I mean ever - find out about this, I don’t even want to </span>
  <em>
    <span>think </span>
  </em>
  <span>about what they would do. I can never tell them and they can never know.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s fair.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Huh?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You shouldn’t put yourself in danger. You shouldn’t feel obligated to tell them, you shouldn’t feel obligated to do anything in the name of being true to yourself.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“All I have to do to be true to myself is just that. Be true to myself.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Exactly.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, I’m - uh, I’m sorry that your parents are-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thanks.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I have a crazy idea.” Luz said, jumping up so fast that Amity was scared Luz would fall off the roof.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t just leave me hanging,” Was Amity’s bad attempt at a response pun. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What if you move in? With me and-” Luz cut herself off, seeing the look on Amity’s face. “I’m just saying, Blight, we’re soulmates. Aren’t we meant to spend the rest of our lives together? We found each other, our </span>
  <em>
    <span>soulmates</span>
  </em>
  <span>, already and we’re still kids. Isn’t that a sign? It has to be a sign. And you can get away from your trashy family, and we can get closer, what do you think?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity only cleared her throat in response. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Well, it was more like she </span>
  <em>
    <span>tried </span>
  </em>
  <span>to clear her throat. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She just ended up coughing her guts out. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Metaphorically. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That was really pushy, I’m sorry. Okay, let me rephrase that. You could move in, if you want, anytime, you don’t even have to let me know before hand. All you have to do - all you </span>
  <em>
    <span>ever </span>
  </em>
  <span>have to do is stop by, say hello, and let me know that you’ll be staying. We’ll figure it out as we go.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Or,” Luz continued. “We can just, keep it a secret. We can do what we’re doing now, but as more than friends. If you want. We can just make sure that your parents - and everyone associated with them - never, ever find out.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why are you trying to help me?” Amity asked, though she was sure she already knew the answer. Because they were </span>
  <em>
    <span>soulmates</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Because I like you, Amity.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Oh. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I really, really like you, and I’m really glad that you’re my soulmate, because you make my days - and life - so much better.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I like you too, Luz.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh. Cool.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Uh huh.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So what do we do now?” Luz said, standing up next to Amity, their hands as close as they could be to each other without them actually touching. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What do you want to do?” Amity asked back. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know. I want you to be happy, I want to pass my science test, I want to be a better friend to Gus and Willow, I want to make edible cookie dough. I want-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Can I kiss you?” Amity blurted out. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She couldn’t believe it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She had been the one to ask. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her, little miss...whatever she was. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luz only nodded in response. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And so she did. She kissed Luz Noceda. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And everything that her parents had tried to convince her was wrong about </span>
  <em>
    <span>that</span>
  </em>
  <span>, went away. She couldn’t think about anything other than Luz Noceda’s lips on hers. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was her first kiss - and she was guessing it was Luz’s too. But it was…</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity could see why Luz was her soulmate. Their lips fit on each other’s like the two last pieces of a puzzle coming into place. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luz’s lips were soft and warm on Amity’s, and they felt more like home than a place ever would. And it just felt so right. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But the moment didn’t last forever. It never would. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>There were two girls on the roof, standing there and kissing each other </span>
  <em>
    <span>for dear life</span>
  </em>
  <span>, in their pajamas. But they broke apart as soon as they heard a noise. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They climbed down the roof, hiding from wherever the noise was coming from. They snuck back into the house, going to look for Gus and Willow. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They ended up being in the living room, drinking tea while a movie played in the background. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey,” Gus greeted, knowing better than to ask where’d they’d been. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hi,” Luz and Amity said, while waving, at the same time. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity and Luz made themselves comfortable on the couch, as far away from each other as they could possibly be. Just in case. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Because when they heard a knock on the door, and a face in the window…</span>
</p><p>
  <span>***</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There were two people there, at the door. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity’s mom and Amity’s dad. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She hoped they didn’t see her, but it was vain at best. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Amity, let’s head home.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But father, it’s a sleepover.” Amity tried her luck at protesting. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It didn’t work. It never did. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s a school night.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You said yes earlier!” Amity was still protesting. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Shut up, Amity, shut up before you make things worse. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Something came up,” said Amity’s mother. “Now let’s go.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity didn’t really have a choice. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her parents walked out, and Amity followed, barely able to wave goodbye to Luz. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>In the car ride home, all Amity wanted to do was go back and forget. Forget it all happened. Forget Gus, forget Willow and most importantly, forget Luz. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>If only she could go back in time, to when she was sure that no one had seen her kiss Luz, because she’d never kissed Luz. And there would’ve been nothing to worry about. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nothing to be scared about. Why didn’t life come with a rewind button? </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity found herself wishing for amnesia, just so she could forget about the stupid little things. </span>
  <em>
    <span>All </span>
  </em>
  <span>the stupid little things. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Everything. </span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>oops. fluff turned into angst. <br/>(see if you can catch my song references).</p><p>oh and sorry?? if this feels rushed or out of character. :(((((</p><p>i hope it doesn't absolutely suck ! :)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. and winners by mistake</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>TRIGGER WARNING:<br/>HOMOPHOBIC BEHAVIOUR &amp; BAD/MANIPULATIVE PARENTING</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Amity expected her parents to do everything that they did. She’d seen it coming from the implicit evidence, their actions and the way they’d told her, straight to her face. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But that didn’t mean that she was ready for it to actually happen. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I was just confused,” Amity had tried to explain, knowing that was easier. “Believe me, there was nothing there.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her parents didn’t need to know that there was less than no truth to that statement. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We just don’t want you to get exposed to-” her mother started. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re perfect the way you are, Amity, I don’t want them trying to change you and make you one of </span>
  <em>
    <span>them</span>
  </em>
  <span>.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity didn’t see the point in protesting, telling them that it wasn’t how it worked. How no matter what they tried and they did, no matter what she tried or </span>
  <em>
    <span>she </span>
  </em>
  <span>did, she would still be one of them. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She just knew in her heart that she was right and they were wrong. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And one day, they’d realize it. They’d realize that there was nothing wrong with Amity. There was nothing wrong with Luz and Willow and Gus. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They were just people. Children, really. And they weren’t hurting anyone. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity knew that she just had to keep telling herself this, while she was going through everything she was going through, that there was nothing wrong with her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She had to transfer schools. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Obviously, she’d seen it coming. She’d seen them all coming. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She knew that she wouldn’t be able to see any of them anymore. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Not Luz (obviously), not Willow - who she was </span>
  <em>
    <span>just </span>
  </em>
  <span>starting to fix things with - and not Gus. It felt like she was losing everything. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But somehow, she didn’t really care. It was like she just went numb. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And the school year went by. And then it was summer break. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Amity,” Amity heard someone whisper as she was lying in bed one night, unable to sleep. “Amity,” the voice repeated. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She didn’t say or do anything.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Mittens!” The voice whisper-yelled. Oh. It was </span>
  <em>
    <span>them</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What do you want?” Amity groaned out. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh nothing,” Emra said, walking into Amity’s room. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>We </span>
  </em>
  <span>don’t want anything,” Edric added. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Right,” Amity huffed, just staring at the ceiling. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We don’t, it’s true.” Emira said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well-” Edric interjected. “There’s one thing we want.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Uh huh,” Amity said, clearly not interested.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“They’re out. Mom and dad. We just wanted to tell you that.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity sat up, confused. “But it’s the middle of the night-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s the summer,” Edric said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“They don’t take time off during the summer,” Amity rebutted. “Did you two-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was dark in her room, so Amity couldn’t see the twins’ smiles, she could only </span>
  <em>
    <span>feel </span>
  </em>
  <span>them. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What we did or didn’t do doesn’t matter.” Edric said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What does matter is that you have a guest.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“A-a what?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Guest,” Edric said. “A person who is invited to visit the home of or take part in a function organized by another.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So who invited this...guest? And who is this guest?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So many questions,” Emira tsked. “Why don’t you just see for yourself?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity just wanted to collapse on her bed. She groaned at how extra her siblings were, and fought the urge to scream into one of her pillows. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hi?” She heard a voice from the door.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Edric, Emira, oh my gosh, what do you want now?” Amity said, and the tone of her voice was many things, but kind was definitely not one of them. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s not Edric. Or Emira. It’s, uh, me.” The person in the doorway cleared their throat and walked towards the bed. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Oh. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luz,” Amity whispered, barely able to believe it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Amity,” Luz said right back. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luz,” Amity repeated, moving to grasp onto Luz’s hand by instinct, one that she hadn’t even realized that she’d development. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Amity,” Luz said, holding onto Amity’s hand for dear life. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They were both on the verge of tears.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I missed you, so, so, so, so much.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I missed you too,” Luz said, and went in for a hug. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And Amity turned bright red. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Like </span>
  <em>
    <span>bright</span>
  </em>
  <span>, bright red. Brighter than a tomato red. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She coughed, hoping that it would at least sort of cover it up. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It didn’t though, of course. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It was-it was so hard,” was all that Amity said, and she was going to keep talking, but Luz just put her hand over Amity’s and all was well again. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know Amity, it was hard for me too.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How’s Willow? And Gus?” Amity asked, now a little bit more than fully awake. “How was the rest of the school year? Did Gus make his club thing? What about-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Deep breaths Blight, deep breaths,” Luz said, a little giggle in her voice. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Right.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“They’re good. It was fine. I mean, it wasn’t easy, obviously. Well, no, actually, it was hard. Like really hard. Like super, duper hard. It seemed like every day, I just ended up missing you more and more.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Me too.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But I’m here now. We’re here. Together.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity lay down on her back, looking back up at the ceiling. “For now. My parents will be back soon. And then we have to go back to never talking to each other.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Not necessarily,” Luz said, laying down next to Amity, and looking up at the ceiling. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What do you mean?” Amity propped herself up on her elbows to get a better look at Luz. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m saying,” Luz started with a knowing smile. “There’s a way we can keep in touch.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You can’t be serious.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But I am.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity lay back down and sighed. “Tell me about it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And so Luz did. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She’d spent a lot of time thinking about it, Amity could tell. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>That meant that Luz spent a lot of time thinking about </span>
  <em>
    <span>her</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Oh. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Well, they were soulmates after all. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Two people who might not have been two halves of the same whole, but rather, two individuals who were willing to put in the work to make </span>
  <em>
    <span>each other </span>
  </em>
  <span>better. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>So they had a plan. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>To keep in touch. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>To defy the rules. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Because screw her parents rules. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They were laying down together, almost half asleep, when Amity felt something touch her hand. She almost jumped up, out of instinct, but she realized it was just Luz. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luz. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She was still there. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luz,” Amity whispered, completely frozen.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah?” A voice whispered back. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You awake?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, Blight.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Good.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I like you. Like, really like you. Like, I like </span>
  <em>
    <span>like </span>
  </em>
  <span>you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I like you too, Amity Blight.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>No words or sounds or anything left Amity’s mouth. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Except for air, of course. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why else would I be holding your hand?” Luz continued. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Oh. Right. So that’s what it was.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I just-I just thought that I- that you,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luz just giggled at that. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Would you believe me if I said that the same went for you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, yeah, okay, I wouldn’t believe me either. But it’s true.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So we both-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah,” Luz said, and turned to face Amity. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And Amity turned to face her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity didn’t know when or how it happened, but she fell asleep holding onto Luz. And Luz was holding onto her. It was a moment she never wanted to forget. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>So, maybe it wasn’t perfect, but what was?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She was holding onto this </span>
  <em>
    <span>girl</span>
  </em>
  <span>, who was a part of her world. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And that was enough. </span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>so i can't decide whether or not to end this here??? so like PLEASE let me know if you want a moment with more closure or if this is the end. PLEASE. i love reading all of ur coments and i love all of u and i hope you've had an amazing day and week, and if not, i hope it gets better/more bearable soon. if you don't got it now, you will one day.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. the world may disapprove, but my world is only you</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>But Amity’s parents came back and summer didn’t last forever.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But neither did school. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Or Amity’s childhood.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Edric and Emira didn’t move out when they turned eighteen, surprisingly. They hadn’t exactly kept their distaste for Alador and Odalia Blight, whom, of course, they called by their first names. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They were only nineteen months older than Amity, so they were there for her eighteenth birthday. Amity’s parents had never really believed in that whole ‘eighteen is an adult thing’ - which was part of the reason the twins still lived at home - but for Amity, they did. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Was it because of her soulmate? Were they embarrassed?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity wasn’t really sure. Nor did she really care. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They gave her the chance to get away, and she was most certainly going to take it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Edric and I got her a present,” Emira said, standing up after Amity’s ‘birthday dinner’, “can we show it to her?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The parents shared a look. They didn’t answer. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Edric stood up, getting Amity to stand up with them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Come on,” he whispered to her, “we’ve got everything under control.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why should I trust you?” Amity whispered back. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Just-please,” Emira answered, grabbing Amity’s other arm and making her walk faster.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You have seven minutes to pack. If you need help, just ask.” Edric said as they dragged her into her own bedroom. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You guys do know that you can be direct with me, right?” Amity said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Emira walked over to Amity’s bed and pulled a suitcase out from under it. “No we can’t, my funky little lesbian.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She ruffled her little sister’s hair. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Stop that!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay, okay,” Emira said, standing back and throwing her hands up, though there was still a smile on her face. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Emira walked out. To keep watch, or something like that. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are </span>
  <em>
    <span>you </span>
  </em>
  <span>going to tell me what’s going on?” Amity asked her brother, her arms crossed. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Only if you actually pack.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Pack what?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Anything and everything you need.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity’s face fell, realizing. “I’m not coming back here, am I?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Not if we can help it.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thank you,” Amity said, a single tear falling down her face. “I love you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hate you too,” Emira said, walking back in. “You do know that you’ve already used up half your time, right? You better hurry up, your escape window’s narrow.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay, okay,” Amity echoed her sister’s earlier words. And she packed. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Both Emira and Edric helped her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She didn’t know exactly what she needed, but with her older siblings, it felt like everything was actually going to be okay. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>How, she didn’t know. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity knew that she could never tell her parents - and that it wasn’t worth it to try - but she didn’t know who else she could tell. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>That she liked girls, and only girls. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>That she was a </span>
  <em>
    <span>lesbian</span>
  </em>
  <span>, and there was nothing wrong with that. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She knew that her parents weren’t the only ones who thought it was wrong. And she wasn’t sure how she’d handle the others. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hopefully she’d have someone by her side. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But it didn’t exactly seem like Emira and Edric were coming with her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What about you two? Where are you going?” Amity asked, as they led her outside - away from their parents. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’ll figure it out,” Edric said, his face showing no emotion. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s not exactly like-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’ve survived for nineteen years, besides, we have each other.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Right. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They had each other, and sometimes - just sometimes - Amity had them. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So where exactly am I going?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t you trust us?” Edric smirked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Barely.” Was Amity’s automatic response.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Good. Now, there’s a car coming by the house. Told it to look for you. My shorty brunette sister. Get in, and everything will make sense from there.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You know that makes it sounds like I’m being kidnapped, right?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re not a kid anymore,” Emira pointed out. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m going to die,” Amity groaned out. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’d never let that happen,” Edric said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>At the same time, Emira said that she wasn’t. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Whatever.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Just get in the darn car,” Emira said, and Edric turned to look for it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>There she was, on the driveway. And it was starting to rain. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her green-haired siblings were waving goodbye to her from the porch, where they were safe from being drenched in the rain. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But Amity wasn’t, and the remainder of the green hair dye all came out. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was almost like...magic. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She’d tried to get it out several times before, but it never really worked. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>So there went her attempts at rebellion. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Because there were always still patches and bits of green in her otherwise auburn hair. Not anymore though; she could see it in her reflection in the puddle that was forming next to her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was almost like the world was telling her to rebel. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And Amity was </span>
  <em>
    <span>finally </span>
  </em>
  <span>ready to listen. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Amity Blight?” She heard a voice say, and there it was, the car.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity took a deep breath. “That’s me.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She got into the car, and it just felt right. She wasn’t scared, for once. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity might not have been able to take on everything, but she could take on this. Whatever this turned out to be. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I take it that you’re not going to tell me where you’re taking me.”  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No ma’am, I’ve been given very specific instructions not to.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sounds about right.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The driver only nodded from their seat. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’re here,” they said. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Where’s here?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know, I’m just the driver.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Right,” Amity said, stepping out of the vehicle. “Thanks.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re welcome.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And they drove off.  Leaving Amity in the middle of...somewhere. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was still raining, and Amity didn’t have an umbrella. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>There wasn’t any available shelter either. She was standing on an empty sidewalk, with no one else in sight. Wait. There was someone. One someone. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>One very particular someone.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luz,” she heard herself whisper.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Amity,” she heard Luz yell back, running toward her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And as if they were in a movie, Amity ran to Luz. Just as Luz was running to Amity. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And everything just made sense. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was raining, but it was beautiful. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Because Amity was with Luz, and Luz was with Amity. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity was always nervous around Luz, and she never knew what to do. But this time, she did. She saw Luz, and she kissed her. It was better than heaven ever could be. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The feeling of her lips on Luz’s was what home should feel like. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It </span>
  <em>
    <span>was </span>
  </em>
  <span>Amity’s home. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was passionate, yet gentle. Urgent and rough, yet soft, because they knew that they had all the time in the world to be together. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity pulled Luz closer to her, and Luz wrapped her arms around Amity’s waist. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>All that Amity wanted was Luz. She didn’t need air, when Luz was there, her lips soft and warm and a place more like home than anywhere Amity had ever lived. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But the nearby thunder made them (finally) break apart. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luz grabbed Amity’s hand.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t want to leave you ever again,” she explained. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t want you to leave ever again either,” Amity said, water dripping down her face. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity couldn’t even tell if she was crying or if it was just the rain. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Probably both. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And the same went for Luz. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lightning struck nearby, and their faces lit up. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Wow. Luz was-wow. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She gotten taller, and her face structure had...it was just different. In a good way. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And Amity knew it was the same Luz she’d fallen for when she was fifteen. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It’d been three years, and since then, Amity’s feelings for Luz had only grown. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And given by the way that Luz was still holding Amity’s hand and looking at her </span>
  <em>
    <span>soulmate </span>
  </em>
  <span>in awe, Amity knew that she felt the same way. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Your hair, it’s-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah. It was a lot harder to get out than you’d think.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I like it though. It uh-” Luz let out a sound that almost sounded like a cough. “It’s a nice colour on you. Suits you well.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thanks.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luz stopped in the middle of the street again, and took Amity’s other hand.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m in love with you, Amity Blight.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m in love with you too, Luz Noceda.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity couldn’t help but lean in for another kiss. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She liked them more than oxygen. And she was a fan of oxygen. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How are Willow and Gus?” Amity said, as soon as they began to walk hand-in-hand, to wherever they were going, together.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Good. They’re good.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s good.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’d like to talk to Willow again. I feel bad.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s not your fault.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I kept in contact with </span>
  <em>
    <span>you</span>
  </em>
  <span>.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, for a summer.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“At least I tried with you. With Willow-with me, it’s just empty words.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No it’s not,” Luz said, putting her hand on Amity’s shoulder. “Listen to me. What happened between you and Willow is complicated, I get that. But you were just kids. You’ve grown and you’ve changed and you have the chance to start over.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I just have to not mess it up.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Exactly.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So, where are we going?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Your siblings didn’t tell you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’ve met them, take your guess.” Amity said, but it was with a smile. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Fair point,” Luz said, smiling right back. “Remember how I asked you to move in with me, back when we were fourteen”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Of course.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, Amity Blight-” Luz cleared her throat- “will you,” she took a step back, and Amity realized that there was a door behind her, “move in,” she opened the door - which was unlocked - “with me?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You have your own apartment?” Was Amity’s first question. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She flushed, realizing how that probably (definitely) sounded. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No,” Luz said, and Amity could’ve sworn that she’d seen Luz blush too. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No?” Amity echoed. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I can’t pay the rent on my own.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh,” Amity said with a frown.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Which is why I’d like </span>
  <em>
    <span>you </span>
  </em>
  <span>to be my roommate. Just you and me, just us. For as long as we want.” Luz explained.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But the money-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’ll worry about the money later,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s not-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ve been saving.” Luz interrupted, but kindly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Me too,” Amity almost whispered.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“There’s a university nearby. We can go there.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’d like that, I’d like that very much.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luz took hold of Amity’s hand, “All we have to do is take it,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Day by day,” they finished together. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Later that night, they were sitting on the ground, holding champagne flutes filled with orange juice. “To being amazing roommates, soulmates and girlfriends,” they cheered. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They hadn’t set up much of the apartment, but they had the juice, a mattress for the two of them, all the clothes and toiletries they’d packed, and every single Azura: The Good Witch book. In hardcover. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was all going to be great. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity and Willow would have the opportunity to get close again. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gus and Amity would be able to get close, for the first time. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And the relationship between Luz and Amity could only grow. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They were laying in their bed - or shared mattress, whatever - that night, when Luz turned over to face Amity and whispered, “I’m so glad we never pressed rewind.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And I’m glad I never actually induced amnesia,” Amity said, only half-joking. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m happy with the way everything turned out,” Luz said, grabbing hold of Amity’s left hand. Amity leaned into her </span>
  <em>
    <span>girlfriend</span>
  </em>
  <span>’s touch. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Me too,” Amity said, “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity knew she’d let the world burn if it would save Luz. Because Luz was her world. And she knew that Luz felt the same. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But Luz only nodded, knowing that it was too dark for Amity to see her. Luz was...preoccupied with something. She was lacing her fingers in between Amity’s, examining her hand to see where a certain band would fit best. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Eventually, they fell asleep in each other’s arms, their limbs tangled together, and they were finally at peace. With the world, with themselves and with each other. </span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>i really like metaphors, can you tell?<br/>there you go. this is the ending. the REAL one. <br/>(i really told myself that i was going to write a short epilogue and then wrote almost two thousand words huh)</p><p>thank you so much for reading this fic, it's been a truly fascinating month working on it and i'm so grateful for the support i've gotten from all of you - even if a good portion of it was just telling me to continue the fic - and i really hope that you've enjoyed this and that my characterization &amp; consistency were to your liking!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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